Around the MAG: Centennial Happenings

Centennial Happenings

Director’s Circle Fall Program

On November 8, one of the last events of the Centennial year—the fall Director’s Circle lecture—featured Dana Gioia, poet, Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at USC, and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. His talk was titled “Why the Arts Matter (and Why One Great Congresswoman Matters)”.

Left: Needing few notes and no slides, Dana Gioia enthralled the audience. | Right: The “one great Congresswoman” was Louise Slaughter (NY-25), co-chair of the bipartisan House Arts Caucus, who was recognized for her many years of service to the arts. | Center: Congresswoman Slaughter is shown with UR President Joel Seligman; Jim Durfee, president of MAG’s Board of Managers; Dana Gioia; and MAG director Grant Holcomb. She holds a collage created for her by Margery Pearl Gurnett; the work, which commemorates the Gallery’s Centennial, incorporates recycled stained glass from a damaged window in Cutler Union.

Public Birthday Party

More than 1,000 visitors were on hand for the Gallery’s free Public Birthday Party on October 13.

Top row: Bollywood Dance Mania performed in the Vanden Brul Pavilion. | Assistant curator Jessica Marten and her daughter, Lucy, recorded a StoryCorps segment for WXXI. | Rochester City Ballet performed in the auditorium.

Bottom row: Bouguereau’s Young Priestess (aka assistant curator of education Sydney Greaves) greeted visitors to the 19th-century European gallery. | Jim Barger, market president for party sponsor KeyBank, and Kathy D’Amanda, vice president of MAG’s Board of Managers, prepare to cut the birthday cake. | Mounfanyi Drum and Dance Ensemble performed in Centennial Sculpture Park.

Photos by Brandon Vick.

Rededication Ceremony

The formal rededication of the Gallery took place Tuesday, October 8—100 years to the day after MAG opened its doors.

Top row: In the Renaissance Gallery, Grant Holcomb welcomed guests to the rededication of the the Gallery; in the background is Memory, a gift of MAG founder Emily Sibley Watson. | Christ Church Schola Cantorum performed. | Grant Holcomb recognized Anastasia Watson Markson, great-great-granddaughter of Emily Sibley Watson, at the dedication of the Watson Family Foyer.

Fourth row: Chelsea Fay, Taylor Edwards, Kimberly (Kima) Emerson & Yue (Yuxi) Liu pose with the Centennial Charms collection that they designed as students at RIT’s School for American Crafts.Sales of the charms, which were inspired by works in the Gallery’s collection, benefit MAG. | UR’s Midnight Ramblers performed in the auditorium. | Members of UR’s After Hours, who also performed, led the dancing in the Vanden Brul Pavilion.

Cabaret Evening: The Polite Abductress

On Friday, April 12, a sellout crowd celebrated the MAG Centennial with French food, wine and entertainment. Centerpiece of the evening was the debut of a two-act operetta, The Polite Abductress, composed for the occasion by Douglas Lowry, the Joan and Martin Messenger Dean of the Eastman School of Music. Pictured at right: The abductress Emmanuelle (Natasha Drake) and her maid (Liz Lang) plot against the blindfolded Henri (Tom Lehman), who has made a fortune selling subprime mortgages.

Nobel Laureate Opens
Centennial Lecture Series

On November 15, 2012, Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Kandel gave an entertaining lecture on his new book, The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. At left: Kandel signed copies of his book for the sellout crowd.